The Mist In Mystery
by Raquelle Rox
Summary: Neal has been freed from his anklet and he now works for the FBI as a paid consultant. But what happens when a secret long forgotten emerges from the past? Will Neal return to the life of crime, giving up a bright future and his friendship with Peter for HIS SISTER!


**The Mist in Mystery**

 **Author's Note: This is my first White Collar fanfic so please be lenient with the reviews. This story takes place after Season 6. However, in this story, Neal did not fake his death. Instead, he was granted freedom upon catching the Pink Panthers, as per his contract. Please Review!**

 **Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me.**

 **Summary:** Neal has been freed from his anklet and he now works for the FBI as a paid consultant. But what happens when a secret long forgotten emerges from the past? Will Neal return to the life of crime, giving up a bright future and his friendship with Peter for HIS SISTER?!

* * *

 **Chapter 1: So much for no more secrets**

Neal was getting ready for work. He wore his favourite suit and continued to adjust his Italian silk tie. His hair was styled to perfection and he looked the spitting image of pristine. All that was missing was his trademark Caffrey smile; in its place a genuine crooked grin adorned the charming face of one Neal Caffrey. The smile widened when Neal lifted his left pant-leg, revealing the absence of his GPS tracker. Neal was no longer a criminal, a tool to the FBI. He was now an official consultant working for the FBI on his own free will; an employee entitled to privacy, a reasonable salary and one who did not have the threat of being thrown in prison, if thought inefficient, looming over his head.

' _No more nefarious schemes, no more artificial personalities and most importantly, no more secrets, especially when it comes to…'_ Neal's musings were abruptly stopped upon the sound of a knock on the door, followed by the muffled voice of Special Agent Peter Burke "Come on, Neal. Hurry up. Don't wanna be late for our first day at work, now do we?"

Smiling to himself, Neal softly opened the door and cheekily replied "Well, I think it's a little late for making a good first impression on my boss."

Neal looked at Peter and realised that he was wearing his lucky suit, the same one he had worn when he had caught him…twice. Upon further subtle scrutiny, Neal noticed the pride in Peter's eye, the slumped shoulders and relaxed posture; for the first time since they had become partners, Peter had let his guard down completely, he was not alert to Neal's every move…he had now placed trust amongst the faith he had in Neal. In that moment, Neal was sure of one thing and that was that this was a new beginning; one that he was adamant on not ruining.

As they sat in a companionable silence in Peter's Taurus, Neal's thoughts wondered of to the bright future in front of him and the person sitting next to him, the one he owed everything to. _Without you Peter, I would still be the infamous Neal Caffrey, a criminal running from the law, without a house that could be called home, a family of my own or friends beside me. No more secrets; from now on, I will live an honest crime-free life…. I hope._

* * *

Peter was proud of the man Neal had become and he hoped that nothing would pull him back to the life of crime and deceit. Neal had worked hard, catching the Pink Panthers and deserved the freedom he had received as a reward for his diligence. Peter had been worried the day Neal had lost his anklet, dreading that the temptation might overpower him and Neal would end up right where he had started. Furthermore, he was upset, though he tried to hide it as well as he could, at the fact that Neal would no longer be there to help him catch felons, to come up with elaborate schemes that would definitely fall in the grey area, to order Italian food with expensive wine instead of their usual end-of-case celebratory pizza, donuts and beer. However, he was pleasantly surprised to find that Neal had applied for a job as a consultant for the FBI and Peter had been more than happy to fulfil his desire. Neal was now an official member of Team Burke and they were on their way to the first day of the rest of their lives.

Upon their entry into the office, Neal was ambushed with a flurry of confetti and a loud "WELCOME CAFFREY." The entire bullpen had been decorated with violet and golden streamers, white and lavender balloons with a huge chocolate cake in the centre of the table, the words 'WELCOME TO THE OTHER SIDE CAFFREY' inscribed onto the cake in strawberry frosting.

"It seems like only yesterday that we were hunting you down like a dog. Welcome to the other side Caffrey," exclaimed Diana sassily as she handed Neal a beautifully wrapped present. In response, Neal flashed a trademark Caffrey smile that reached his eyes and politely thanked her, his tone laced with sincerity and appreciation.

"Good luck Caffrey. If Neal's working with us, may God bless us all," joked Jones and was met with a rumble of laughter. Neal was then congratulated by other agents as well and presented with quite a few gifts. The cake was then cut and the soft drinks served; they could not be drinking alcohol in the building during working hours. As Neal mingled with Peter, Diana and Jones, he plastered a carefully manufactured polite smile on his face and a structured relaxed posture even as his heart soared upon receiving so much genuine affection and yearned to jump up and down in glee. ' _Don't wanna give too much away. Guess old habits die hard,' Neal thought with a smirk._

* * *

The celebration was cut short, however, when a phone call came for Agent Burke. With his trademark finger point, Peter summoned his team to the conference room.

"Sorry guys but this is an important case."

Ignoring the grumbles and whispered complaints of his team members, Peter began to explain that the FBI had an anonymous tip of diamonds being smuggled into the United States from Botswana.

"This case was originally assigned to another team until it was discovered that one of the suspects was an alleged painting forger on a case that went cold twenty-two years ago due to insufficient evidence. Coincidentally, I…umm…am familiar with the case and so it had been reassigned to our team."

This comment was met with muffled laughter from the team.

"How old do you have to be Peter if you were working the case TWENTY-TWO years ago!" came Neal's cheeky comment.

However, both the comment and the commenter were immediately silenced with a deathly glare from Peter. "As I was saying," Peter continued, maintaining a stern tone, even though he felt amused himself by the comment. _Must maintain a certain respect. I am their boss after all._

"The first suspect is Patrick Loyce who…" Neal tuned out the rest of Peter's speech. After all, Peter was not saying anything that wasn't in the file in their hands. _But that's Peter; thorough beyond belief._

Instead Neal chose to inspect the image of the first suspect on the first slide on the LCD; a middle-aged man with a round face, a faint stubble and beady eyes. He was wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt that was quite tight on his obese body and an obvious fake tan adorned his face. _Definitely not our smuggler. The personality of the smuggler often corresponds with the type of goods that he chooses to smuggle. This man may be smuggling hot dogs but there is no way he could be smuggling diamonds. We are looking for someone well-kept, elegant and confident._ The second guy didn't fit Neal's profile either with his shabby hair falling into his eyes and the wrinkled suit he wore. Neal opened his mouth to interrupt Peter's speech to make his opinion about the two suspects known when the image of the third suspect, a female in her late forties, came up on the screen and Neal was shocked still. "This is the suspect that was suspected of art forgery all those years ago, you see…" Peter's voice was drowned out by the hammering of Neal's heart. The familiar sapphire blue eyes stared back at him, he gaped at the rosy red lips that had often made contact with Neal's cheek in the past, a slim scar at the edge of her slender neck and the stylish hair which was blonde now but Neal knew without the shadow of a doubt that she was a natural brunette.

"What do you think Caffrey? Which one is most likely our guy? Caffrey? Neal? Neal!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Peter. I might have spaced out but I am sure it had nothing to do with the boring lecture that I just endured. I think that all three of them are possible suspects. However, a diamond smuggler would probably hide in the background, make himself out to be average, sloppy, attempting to be underestimated so my best bet would be the first suspect." After sharing the view, not his view, he flashed a charming smile.

* * *

At first Peter had presumed Neal's shocked state as an exaggerated display of admiration at the admittedly good-looking third suspect but upon closer inspection, Peter noticed the pale complexion and the slight, almost imperceptible, widening of his eyes that usually meant trouble for Peter. Groaning inwardly, he dismissed the team, handing out assignments of surveillance to each of them and asked Neal to stay back. Peter was hoping that Neal would disclose whatever it was that he was hiding without prompting from Peter but Neal remained stubbornly quiet, flashing Peter the artificial Caffrey grin which did nothing to suppress the growing suspicion in Peter's gut. "Well?" Peter asked gently, desperately hoping that this would be the one problem that he could nip in the bud before it became an uncontrollable issue. However, to his utter dismay, Neal innocently repeated "Well?"

"Neal, do you know her?" Peter asked, a tinge of annoyance and something that Neal couldn't quite identify in his tone.

Though he hated saying what he said next, knowing it was adding fuel to the fire, he said it nonetheless "Know who, Peter?"

"Neal!"

Neal flinched inwardly at Peter's warning. _Boy, I am in for it!_ However, outwardly, Neal upheld a confused façade and replied calmly "Peter."

Sighing heavily, Peter asked "Suspect three, Andrea Hawkes, do you know her?"

"I can assure you that I do not know Andrea Hawkes, Peter," came the simple reply. _Neal has never and would never lie to my face, with the exception of the time that El had forced him to, so does that mean that he doesn't know her then? Unlikely._ Furthermore, the look of slight relief and... happiness on Neal's face upon hearing the name of the suspect had not gone unnoticed by Peter. Though Neal had maintained an impassive face during the entire conversation, Peter had learned to read Neal in the past six years of working with him. The way his eyebrows would arch, most of the time, when deceiving someone, the fact that he usually blinked when relieved as he had done a few seconds ago and the structured superficial Caffrey smile hiding secrets behind charm as he was doing now.

"Are you sure?" Peter asked, in a last attempt at getting Neal to say what was on his mind.

"Yes, Peter."

With disappointment etched on his face, Peter dismissed him. _So much for a new beginning, so much for no more secrets._

* * *

As Neal walked away from Peter's office, flouncing a nonchalant façade, his mind whirled and his heart ached. Neal knew that Peter had been able to tell that he hadn't been exactly honest with him back in the office, though he hadn't lied…exactly; he didn't know Andrea Hawkes but he did know Alison Bennett and he hadn't been able to find it in himself to deceive Peter entirely, not after all the promises he had made, both to himself and to Peter.

 _Sorry Peter but my sister comes first._

 _So much for no more secrets._


End file.
